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Wednesday, April 5, 2015 · mapleridgenews.com · est. 1978 · (office) 604-467-1122 · (del iver y ) 60 4- 4 66 - 63 97
Transit ballots slow to return None reported from Maple Ridge, Pitt Meadows By Neil Corbett ncorbett@mapleridgenews.com
In the transit referendum there has so far been few ballots processed from Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows. But Elections B.C. is expecting the mail-in plebiscite will reflect the local decision eventually. Elections B.C. is reporting that it has received 54,000 out of 415,000 ballots sent to voters in the City of Vancouver, and 9,000 out of 294,000 from Surrey. For the rest of the region, including Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows, it reports having processed none. It seems a small return out of 1.5 million voting packages that were mailed to eligible voters between March 16 and 27. See Transit, 5
Tim Fitzgerald/THE NEWS
Teed up Chloe Phillips, 5, takes a cut at the ball off a tee with her family Monday by Samuel Roberts Technical secondary school.
‘New quarry would be underway’ Pitt council trying to stop ‘runaway train’ By Neil Corbett ncorbett@mapleridgenews.com
There would likely be blasting at a new quarry on Sheridan Hill already, if not for the opposition of Pitt Meadows City Hall and residents. Mayor John Becker said the process for the Ministry of Energy and Mines to approve a quarry is like a
“negative billing option.” The applicant files a notice of work, and it is up to neighbours or other opponents – including a municipal government – to “ramp up their opposition in a very short time,” he said. The original application called for work to begin in Becker early April. “If we had been asleep on this one, it would have been a complete disaster,” said Becker.
The applicant, Meadows Quarry of Maple Ridge, would like to start a quarry on the south side of Sheridan Hill, removing 240,000 tonnes per year, and lowering the height of the hill by 30 metres, to 45 metres from 75. The City of Pitt Meadows and Katzie First Nations are ramping up their official opposition to the Sheridan Hill quarry. Pitt will formally request an ar-
cheological investigation of Sheridan Hill and a full environmental assessment of the proposed quarry there. At the same time, the Katzie First Nation has called for “an immediate halt to the mining development proposal at our creation site, Sheridan Hill,” in a press release from Chief Susan Miller. “As a nation, we are not willing to let our rights be further extinguished and are prepared to assert these rights,” said Miller. See Quarry, 5
files
A quarry on the south side of Sheridan Hill would extract 240,000 tonnes a year.
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